1 t'F  P . GUTEKUNST  CO.,  pHI! 


Parent  Hue  ms  Cljaptn,  IB.  IB.,  3LH.IB 


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MEMORIAL  SERVICE 


HELD  BY 


THE  ALUMNI  OF  BELOIT  COLLEGE, 


IN  THE  COLLEGE  CHAPEL, 


SO,  1803- 


P.  F.  PETTI  BONE  & CO. 
PRINTERS, 

48-50  JACKSON  ST. 
CHICAGO. 


The  addresses  and  letters  which  follow  were  prepared  for 
the  meeting  in  memory  of  President  Chapin,  which  was  held 
by  the  Alumni  of  Beloit  College  in  the  College  Chapel  on 
the  evening  of  Tuesday,  June  20,  1893.  The  President  of 
the  Alumni  Association,  Rev.  S.  P.  Wilder,  of  the  Class  of 
1871,  presided.  The  order  of  exercises  was  as  follows: 

Organ  Prelude,  by  Choirmaster  H.  D.  Sleeper.t 

Hymn  : “ Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me.” 

Prayer  by  Rev.  H.  T.  Rose,  Northampton,  Mass.,  of  the  Class  of  1866. 

Address  by  Rev.  G.  S.  F.  Savage,  D.D.,  Chicago,  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

Tributes  from  absent  Alumni  and  Friends.  Read  by  Professor  F.  C. 
Porter,  Ph.D.,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  of  the  Class  of  1880. 

Poem  by  Professor  T.  L.  Wright,  Beloit,  of  the  Class  of  1880. 

Address  by  Professor  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  LL.D.,  Chicago,  of  the  Class  of 
1866. 

Address  by  President  E.  D.  Eaton,  D.D.,  Beloit,  of  the  Class  of  1872. 

Hymn  : “ For  all  thy  saints,  who  from  their  labors  rest.” 

Benediction  by  Rev.  S.  W.  Eaton,  U.D.,  Roscoe,  111. 

The  address  of  Professor  Joseph  Emerson,  delivered  at 
the  Funeral  Services,  July  25,  1892,  is  added,  as  written  out 
by  him  in  an  abbreviated  form.  ' 


r 


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JUtbre##  of  doctor  gtava^e. 

President  Aaron  Lucius  Chapin,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  to  whose 
memory  we  are  met  to  pay  the  grateful  and  loving  tribute  of  our 
minds  and  hearts,  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  Feb.  6,  1817. 
He  finished  his  long  and  useful  earthly  life  in  this  city,  July  22, 
1892,  and  entered  into  the  rest  and  blessedness  of  the  life 
eternal. 

In  early  years  he  consecrated  himself  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  his  service  in  the  Christian  ministry.  Enter- 
ing Yale  College  in  1833,  he  graduated  with  honor  in  1837. 
He  received  his  ministerial  education  in  Union  Theolog- 
ical Seminary,  New  York  City,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1842.  While  pursuing  his  theological  studies  in  the  Sem- 
inary he  was  for  a time  a teacher  in  the  celebrated  Deaf  and 
Dumb  Institute  of  New  York. 

In  1843  he  came  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  where  he  remained  six  years  in 
faithful  and  successful  service  as  a pastor. 

In  1 849' he  was  called  from  that  pastorate  to  the  responsi- 
ble and  onerous  duties  of  the  first  President  of  Beloit  Col- 
lege, serving  in  that  capacity  for  thirty-six  years,  and  retain- 
ing his  connection  with  the  college  as  President  Emeritus, 
Trustee  and  Member  of  the  Executive  Committee  until  his 
removal  by  death. 

In  all  these  relations  he  won  the  highest  respect  and  con- 
fidence by  the  ability,  fidelity  and  success  with  which  he  met 
and  discharged  the  varied  duties  and  responsibilities  which 
devolved  upon  him.  But  his  great  life-work,  that  for  which 
he  will  be  especially  remembered  and  honored,  was  his  leader- 
ship in  laying  deep  and  broad  the  foundations  of  this  beloved 
college,  which,  we  believe,  is  for  generations  to  pour  out  its 
rich  blessings  upon  the  world  ; and  for  his  administration  of 
its  affairs,  during  the  long  period  of  his  presidency, — a length 
of  time  rarely  if  ever  equaled  by  any  college  president  in  our 
country. 

And  it  is  peculiarly  fitting  that,  upon  this  first  anniversary 


6 


of  the  college  since  his  removal,  we  should  as  Trustees, 
Faculty,  Alumni,  students  and  friends  of  the  college,  here 
assembled,  unite  by  this  memorial  service  in  paying  our 
heartfelt  tribute  to  his  memory.  The  best  years  of  his  life 
were  sacredly  devoted,  in  unison  with  his  associates,  to 
making  this  college  what  it  now  is,  the  peer  of  the  best 
institutions  for  higher  Christian  education  in  this  great  Interior 
and  Northwest.  The  college  itself,  in  its  present  growth  and 
large  prosperity,  now  presided  over  by  one  of  her  own  choicest 
sons,  and  aided  by  an  able  and  devoted  corps  of  instructors, 
is  both  an  evidence  of  the  wisdom  and  success  of  President 
Chapin’s  long  administration  of  its  affairs  and  an  enduring 
monument  to  his  memory. 

It  may  seem  presumption  in  me  to  attempt,  in  this  pres- 
ence and  on  this  occasion,  to  voice  the  tribute  which  all  our 
hearts  would  pay  to  the  character  and  life-work  of  this  revered 
and  beloved  man  of  God.  My  only  apology  is  the  fact  of  my 
long  acquaintance  and  association  with  him  and  my  high 
appreciation  of  the  nobility  of  his  character  and  of  his  eminent 
services.  Natives  of  the  same  State  ; Alumni  of  the  same 
college ; Associate  Trustees  of  this  college  from  the  time  he 
entered  upon  its  presidency — forty-three  years  ago  ; privi- 
leged to  share  his  friendship  and  frequently  to  enjoy  the  hos- 
pitalities of  his  home,  I have  learned  both  to  love  and  to 
honor  him  for  the  superior  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which 
characterized  him  and  for  the  good  which  he  accomplished. 
With  a glad  and  grateful  heart  do  I cherish  a profound  regard 
for  his  memory. 

Leaving  it  for  others  who  are  to  follow  to  analyze  the 
elements  of  character  which  made  President  Chapin  what  he 
was,  and  to  bear  testimony  to  his  useful  services,  permit  me 
very  briefly  to  trace  some  of  those  steps  in  his  life  which 
molded  his  character  and  fitted  him  for  his  special  life-work. 
The  early  environments  of  individuals  have  much  to  do  in 
shaping  their  after  life  and  preparing  them  for  the  providential 
work  to  which  they  are  called.  If  we  were  to  trace  back  the 
influences  which  molded  and  fixed  the  character  of  Presi- 
dent Chapin,  and  were  a providential  preparation  for  the, 
presidency  of  this  college,  we  should  find  their  happy  begin- 
nings in  the  atmosphere  of  a typical  New  England  Christian 


7 

home,  where  from  earliest  childhood  he  received  a genial 
Christian  nurture. 

Back  of  the  home,  he  was  connected  with  an  intelligent 
and  godly  ancestry.  Among  my  earliest  recollections  was 
that  of  one  of  these  godly  ancestors,  the  venerable  and  dis- 
tinguished Rev:  Dr.  Calvin  Chapin,  an  uncle  of  President 
Chapin,  one  of  the  renowned  five  who  in  1810  met  in  the 
parlor  of  Dr.  Porter,  in  Farmington,  Conn.,  to  organize  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and 
who  was  its  first  and  for  more  than  a generation  its  Record- 
ing Secretary.  I can  to-night  almost  feel  the  touch  of  his 
hand,  as  it  was  laid  upon  my  youthful  head,  and  hear  his 
voice,  as  he  offered  the  prayer  of  consecration  when  I was 
ordained — forty-six  years  ago — as  a Home  Missionary.  In 
the  earlier  years  of  President  Chapin’s  life  in  his  native  city 
he  was  privileged  with  the  friendship,  the  counsels,  the  edu- 
cating and  stimulating  influences  of  such  scholarly  and  godly 
pastors  as  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell  and  Dr.  Joel  Hawes, — men 
of  masterly  minds  and  great  practical  wisdom,  to  whom  he 
always  gratefully  acknowledged  his  indebtedness  for  encour- 
agement and  guidance  in  his  preparation  for  college.  His 
early  association  with  these  men  of  rare  ability  and  worth, 
and  with  the  intelligent  and  cultured  society  of  his  native 
city,  was' no  unimportant  factor  in  developing  and  molding 
his  after  character  and  life.  And  he  was  no  less  happy  in 
the  associations  of  his  college  days.  He  was  a member  of 
the  famous  Yale  class  of  1837,  numbering  such  men  as  Chief 
Justice  Waite,  Hon.  Wm.  M.  Evarts,  Hon.  Edwards  Pierre- 
pont,  Gov.  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  Professors  Benjamin  Silliman, 
B.  N.  Martin,  Chester  S.  Lyman,  Rev.  Drs.  D.  B.  Coe,  A.  L. 
Stone,  and  others  distinguished  in  church  and  state  and  as 
educators. 

After  his  graduation  from  college  he  was  for  a time  asso- 
ciated as  a teacher  in  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institute  in  New 
York  City  with  scholarly  and  practical  instructors,  some  of 
whom  became  eminent  in  their  professions.  Of  one  of  these, 
Dr.  A.  L.  Stone,  Dr.  Dwinell  said,  “He  was  one  of  the  most 
eloquent,  commanding,  highly  finished  speakers  ” he  had 
ever  heard,  and  I can  testify  that  to  this  he  added  a grace  of 
manner  and  a personal  magnetism  seldom  equaled.  It  was 


8 


while  President  Chapin  was  an  instructor  in  this  institution 
that  I made  my  first  personal  acquaintance  with  him,-^an 
acquaintance  which  afterward  ripened  into  a friendship  which 
has  been  one  of  the  cherished  privileges  of  my  life. 

Of  his  pastorate  in  Milwaukee  I need  not  speak  at  length. 
Its  success  gained  him  a wide  reputation  as  one  fitted  to  fill 
a larger  and  wider  sphere  of  labor  than  any  single  pastorate 
could  afford,  and  it  was  also  a preparation  by  its  experiences 
for  the  manifold  duties  which  would  devolve  upon  him  in  his 
administration  of  college  affairs. 

In  assuming  the  presidency  of  the  college  he  was  for- 
tunate in  having  associated  with  him,  from  the  very  first,  as 
professors,  men  having  received  their  training  in  the  same 
Alma  Mater, — of  marked  ability  and  scholarship, — of  kindred 
spirit, — consecrated  and  self-sacrificing, — apt  to  teach,  and 
in  full  sympathy  with  himself  in  the  purpose  and  effort  of 
building  up  a first-class  Christian  college  worthy  of  the  name. 
Need  I mention  their  names? — the  sainted  Bushnell,  of 
blessed  memory,  and  the  cultured  and  scholarly  Emerson, 
whom  God  has  graciously  spared  to  this  present  time,  loved 
and  honored  of  all.  And  in  subsequent  years  President 
Chapin  was  no  less  happy  in  having  the  cordial  support  and 
cooperation  of  the  noble  company  of  Christian  scholars  and 
teachers,  who  have  followed  closely  in  the  footsteps  of  these 
first  two  professors,  and  who  have  contributed  so  much  to 
make  the  college  what  it  is  to-day,  the  joy  of  all  our  hearts. 
In  all  his  administration,  efficiently  aided  by  his  gifted  asso- 
ciates, he  held  the  institution  true  to  the  high  ideal  of  a 
Christian  college.  President  Chapin  took  an  active  part  in 
the  conventions  which  were  held  preliminary  to  the  organiza- 
tion and  locating  . of  the  college,  and  was  a charter  trustee. 
His  colleagues  in  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  were  men  like- 
minded  with  himself, — men  of  far-seeing  vision,  of  practical 
wisdom,  of  executive  ability,  ready  for  the  self-sacrifices  and 
labors  which  were  needful  at  that  early  day  to  plant  and  sus- 
tain. an  institution  which  should  be  the  “Yale  of  the  West.” 
Their  motto  was  “ Scientia  Vera  cum  Fide  PuraF  They 
were  men  who  appreciated  their  opportunities — “men  who 
had  understanding  of  the  times  to  know  what  Israel  ought  to 
do.”  You  will  readily  recall  the  names  of  those  wise  and 


9 


godly  men,  who  as  founders  and  Trustees  were  leaders  in 
this  enterprise, — Peet,  Clary,  Kent,  Bascom,  Fisher,  Talcott 
and  others.  They  were  a noble  body  of  men,  with  unbounded 
confidence  in  the  new  young  president  of  their  choice,  and 
were  always  ready  to  sustain  him  by  their  experienced  coun- 
sels, their  generous  gifts,  their  harmonious  decisions,  as  well 
as  by  their  prayers  and  widely  extended  influence. 

They  made  no  mistake  in  electing  him  as  their  president. 
A single  fact  will  illustrate  the  estimation  in  which  President 
Chapin  was  held  at  the  East  at  the  time  of  his  election  to 
the  presidency  of  the  college.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
Trustees  chairman  of  a committee  to  write  to  leading  men 
at  the  East,  asking  them  to  recommend  some  one  for  presi- 
dent. They  wrote  back  that  they  knew  no  one  better  fitted 
to  fill  that  place  than  the  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Milwaukee. 

He  was  one  whose  scholarship,  business  sagacity,  sound 
judgment,  devoted  Christian  character  and  past  experience 
abundantly  qualified  him  for  the  responsible  position  and 
duties  to  which  he  had  been  called.  His  good  sense  and 
business  qualifications,  as  well  as  his  personal  labors  and 
widely  extended  influence,  aided  essentially  in  the  solution 
of  the  many  difficult  problems  in  finance  and  administration 
which  were  encountered  in  the  early  history  of  the  college. 

The  Trustees  had  great  confidence  in  the  sound  judgment 
and  leadership  of  President  Chapin,  and  such  confidence 
was  fully  warranted.  Seldom,  if  ever,  did  any  disagree- 
ments arise  between  them.  There  was  a delightful  and 
single-hearted  agreement  in  the  adoption  of  any  and  all 
measures  which  would  best  secure  the  prosperity  and  useful- 
ness of  the  college  so  dear  to  all  their  hearts.  And  could 
those  lips,  now  sealed  in  death,  speak  to  us  to-night,  they 
would  doubtless  gladly  bear  testimony  to  the  invaluable  and 
harmonious  aid  he  received  in  the  thirty-six  years  of  his 
presidency,  not  only  from  that  first  Board  of  Trustees,  but 
also  from  all  their  successors. 

In  the  closing  years  of  President  Chapin’s  life,  after  his 
committal  of  the  presidency  of  the  college  to  the  man  of  his 
choice,  he  found  great  joy  in  noting  the  large  strides  forward 
which  the  college  was  making  under  his  efficient  and  success- 


IO 


ful  administration.  He  watched  with  keen  interest  and 
delight  the  needed  addition  to  its  funds,  its  buildings,  its 
faculty,  and  the  increased  number  of  students.  I should 
transcend  the  limit  of  time  allotted  me  were  I to  attempt  any 
analysis  of  the  character  and  work  of  President  Chapin. 

Of  his  work  in  the  college,  and  his  relations  to  faculty 
and  students,  others  will  speak.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  say 
that  under  his  fostering  care,  and  with  his  stamp  upon  them, 
hundreds  of  trained  students  have  gone  forth  who  are  to-day 
faithfully  serving  God  and  country  and  humanity  as  mission- 
aries, ministers,  teachers,  lawyers,  physicians,  editors  or 
business  men, — filling  spheres  of  usefulness  and  doing  honor 
to  their  Alma  Mater,  for  which  we  thank  God,  and  take  cour- 
age for  the  future. 

It  should  be  added  that  while  President  Chapin  was  loyal 
to  the  college,  giving  to  it  his  best  thoughts  and  energies,  his 
interest  and  usefulness  were  by  no  means  limited  to  it.  What 
he  was  to  the  churches  of  Wisconsin  as  an  active,  influential 
member  of  the  Wisconsin  Convention,  ever  ready  to  share  in 
its  counsels  and  labors,  is  well  known  to  many  of  you.  As  a 
corporate  member  of  the  American  Board  he  rendered  most 
valuable  service,  not  only  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Board, 
but  also  in  special  emergencies,  as  in  his  mission  to  Turkey. 
All  our  great  missionary  and  benevolent  societies  had  his 
hearty  interest  and  cooperation.  For  many  years  he  was  a 
Director  of  the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  and  I can 
testify  to  the  value  of  his  counsels  and  labors  there. 

We  shall  all  cherish  with  grateful  hearts  the  memory  of 
his  intellectual  and  scholarly  attainments,  his  manly  bearing, 
his  Christian  character,  his  wise  counsels,  his  self-denying 
and  successful  labors  for  the  college,  his  widely  extended  and 
beneficent  influence  as  a Christian  minister  ; for  what  he  was 
in  himself  and  what  he  did  for  Christian  education  and  for  the 
upbuilding  and  extension  of  Christ’s  Kingdom  in  the  world. 

“ To  tell  of  such  a life,  all  words  are  weak. 

In  presence  of  those  deeds  which  make  the  sum 
Of  his  humanity. 

We  loved  him,  learned  on  his  sweet  life  to  lean, 

Yet  dare  not  mourn  that  such  a life  should  cease, 

When  the  Great  Reaper  takes  his  ripened  grain.” 


gettere  UHtrittett  for  tljio  meeting. 

From  Rev.  Thomas  D.  Christie,  D.D.,  of  the  Class  of  1872. 

Si  monumentum  queer  is,  circumspice ! The  best  monument 
to  President  Chapin  is  the  body  of  Alumni  that  Beloit  College 
has  sent  forth  into  the  world.  I well  remember  a sentence  in 
the  first  letter  my  father  wrote  after  my  graduation  : — “ How 
much  do  I owe  to  those  men  at  Beloit — men  whom  I have 
never  seen  ! They  have  given  me  a new  son  ! ” 

Yes,  brothers,  I say  to  the  Alumni,  we  were  made  anew  at 
Beloit  College  ; we  owe  these  new  selves  to  President  Chapin 
and  the  men  who  worked  with  him  ; and  if  we  have  done 
anything  in  the  world  to  make  anew  other  young  lives,  this 
also  is  but  a continuation  of  the  work  to  which  President 
Chapin  gave  all  his  years  and  all  his  energies.  It  will  be  well 
for  us  and  well  for  our  work  if,  in  our  service  to  his  Master 
and  ours,  we  shall  be  enabled  to  show  something  of  the  faith- 
fulness to  duty,  the  devotion  to  high  ideals,  the  forgetfulness 
of  self,  the.  calm,  orderly  movement  onward,  ever  onward,  of 
that  noble  spirit  that  knew  neither  haste  nor  rest. 

I can  say  for  myself  that  the  thought  of  him  has  often 
strengthened  me  for  toil  or  for  endurance;  he  was  a man 
whom  it  did  one  good  to  know.  Would  that  he  could  stand 
beside  me  here,  if  but  for  the  briefest  period,  to  teach  me 
how  a new  Beloit  is  to  be  nurtured  on  the  banks  of  the 
Cydnus ! Of  counselors,  he  was  one  among  a thousand. 
There  was  such  a practiced  wisdom  in  him,  such  a power  of 
looking  at  all  sides  of  a question  - — looking  over,  and  under, 
and  through  it — of  foreseeing  consequences  and  measuring  re- 
sults ; and,  above  all,  he  so  habitually  applied  the  very  highest 
principles  to  the  solution  of  the  matter  in  hand,  that  after  he 
had  stated  his  opinion  there  was  usually  no  doubt  left  as  to 
what  was  just  the  right  thing,  just  the  best  thing,  to  be  done. 
The  secret  of  this  was  the  purity  of  his  spirit ; he  sought  no 
selfish  ends  ; his  eye  was  ever  on  his  Master — that  is  why  men 
went  to  consult  him  as  an  oracle  of  God. 


12 


With  all  this,  there  was  his  unaffected  humility.  I was 
talking  about  him  in  New  York  with  his  classmate,  Mr.  Walter 
T.  Hatch,  the  Treasurer  of  our  Board  of  Trustees.  “We 
entered  Yale,”  he  said,  “ sixty  years  ago.  I remember  Waite, 
Evarts  and  Chapin  best  among  my  classmates.  Chapin  was 
so  modest,  so  shy  and  retiring  in  his  disposition  that  he  had 
been  with  us  two  years  before  we  really  found  him  out — found 
out  the  real  strength  of  his  mind  and  the  solidity  of  his  at- 
tainments. But  we  always  knew,  after  that,  that  he  would 
make  his  mark  in  the  world.”  Those  who  knew  Dr.  Chapin 
best  can  bear  testimony  that  in  this  case  the  boy  was  father  to 
the  man  ; his  genuine  lowliness  of  mind  obscured,  to  the  or- 
dinary eye,  the  massive  strength  and  greatness  of  his  powers. 
That  it  was,  too,  that  made  him  seem  cold  and  distant  some- 
times to  his  students. 

I must  say  that  I never  really  knew  the  President  until 
after  I had  left  college  and  was  called  back  to  teach  in  the 
Preparatory  School.  I then  had  occasion  to  consult  him  more 
frequently  and  to  associate  with  him  more  familiarly,  and  it 
was  only  then  that  I learned  to  know  the  sweetness,  the  at- 
tractiveness, of  his  nature.  He  had  in  him  a readiness  of 
sympathy  unsuspected  by  his  students. 

Yes,  for  sincerity,  for  humility  and  strength,  President 
Chapin  might  well  have  suggested  to  Macaulay  his  famous 
pen-portrait  of  “The  Puritan;”  he  might  have  served  as  a 
model  instead  of  his  ancestor,  Deacon  Chapin,  for  that  noble 
statue  of  “The  Puritan,”  which  is  one  of  the  best  things  our 
New  England  Springfield  has  to  show. 

He  is  gone,  but  his  works  do  follow  him.  His  memory — 
the  memory  of  our  first  President— will  live  as  long  as  Beloit 
College  and  its  work  shall  endure  in  the  world.  Others  can 
but  continue  to  build  on  the  foundations  he  laid,  and  laid  so 
well.  As  one  of  my  classmates  writes,  “ The  heroic  days  in 
Beloit’s  history,  when  President  Chapin  and  that  little  band 
of  home  missionaries  that  gathered  around  him  prayed  and 
planned  and  labored  and  sacrificed  for  the  infant  college,  can 
never  be  forgotten.”  Prosperity  has  come.  Buildings  and 
endowments  are  increased ; year  by  year  the  throng  of 
Alumni  and  of  friends  is  growing  in  numbers  and  in  power  ; 
the  blessing  of  God  is  manifestly  upon  the  old  college  and 


upon  all  its  influences  in  the  world.  We  rejoice  in  all  this, 
and  pray  that  it  may  be  but  the  beginning  of  good  things  for 
Alma  Mater. 

But  even  as  we  look  forward  and  press  on  with  eager  eye 
and  step  towards  the  better  future,  it  is  well  that  we  throw  our 
glance  backward,  from  time  to  time,  upon  that  group  of 
heroes  and  their  chief,  who  despised  not  the  day  of  small 
things,  who  sowed  in  tears  what  we  are  reaping  in  joy,  and 
whose  virtues  and  work  it  will  be  well  for  us  to  emulate  as 
we  may. 

President  Chapin’s  grave  ought  to  be  in  the  centre  of  the 
College  grounds,  and  the  inscription  on  his  tomb  should  be, 
“If  you  seek  for  my  memorial,  look  around  you!  Look 
around  upon  these  buildings  and  endowments  ; look  around 
upon  these  throngs  of  youth  ; look  around  upon  the  Alumni  ; 
look  around  in  all  the  lands  of  the  world,  wherever  a church, 
a school,  or  any  other  saving  and  uplifting  agency  is  minis- 
tered to  by  a Beloit  boy;  look  around  and  try  to  measure  the 
ever-spreading  influences  for  good  that  have  had  their  birth 
here  on  the  banks  of  the  Rock,  but  are  to  live  and  grow  for- 
ever,— look  around  on  all  this  if  you  seek  for  that  which  shall 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  first  President  of  Beloit 
College.” 

THOMAS  D.  CHRISTIE. 

Saint  Paul’s  Institute,  Tarsus,  Asiatic  Turkey. 

From  Professor  J.  D.  Davis,  D.  D.,  of  the  Class  of.  1866. 
To  the  Alumni  of  Beloit  College  : 

Dear  Brethren  : — I came  to  Beloit  College  a poor  young 
man  in  the  spring  of  i860,  entering  the  Freshman  class.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  kindness  with  which  the  President  re- 
ceived me  when  I called  at  his  study  that  first  morning  as  an 
entire  stranger,  nor  the  few  other  similar  kind  receptions  and 
kind  offices  during  the  year  and  a half  which  preceded  my  • 
four  years’  absence  in  the  army  ; they  won  my  heart  and  held 
it  so  that  his  presence  in  the  class-room  or  on  the  campus  was 
a benediction  to  me,  and  I remember  his  Sabbath  afternoon 
sermons  in  the  Chapel  on  the  life  of  Christ  almost  as  if  they 
were  of  yesterday.  After  the  war,  while  I was  in  college 


14 


again,  I sometimes  had  occasion  to  defend  the  President  from 
unjust  and  mistaken  criticism  ; but  all  my  subsequent  inter- 
course with  him,  whether  in  college,  on  the  platform  of  the 
American  Board  at  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1871,  or  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  in  1886,  or  in  his  own  home  as  a guest,  only  served  to 
confirm  and  deepen  my  first  impressions  of  the  deep  well  of 
love  and  kindness  which  was  in  his  heart.  Of  his  influence 
and  work  for  the  college  and  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the 
world,  I need  not  speak  ; he  was  one  of  the  chosen  few  who 
gave  his  life  to  the  college  and  laid  the  foundations  on  which 
the  grand  structure,  as  it  stands  before  the  world  to-day,  has 
arisen.  He  helped  to  mold  and  hold  the  great  Interior  for 
Christ  and  for  liberty,  and  the  “ lines  of  his  influence  have 
gone  out  through  all  the  world.”  The  longer  I live,  the  more 
am  I impressed  with  the  fact  that  men  are  like  composite 
photographs,  largely  made  and  molded  by  the  men  who  pow- 
erfully influence  them  during  the  forming  period  of  their  lives, 
and  I am  conscious  that  President  Chapin  and  Professors 
Fisk,  Emerson,  Porter  and  Blaisdell,  of  Beloit,  and  Profes- 
sors Fisk,  Haven  and  Bartlett,  of  Chicago  Seminary,  have 
probably  made  and  molded  my  character  and  life  more  than 
all  other  human  influences  combined,  and  among  these  my 
patterns  and  molders  I owe  a large  debt  of  gratitude  to  Pres- 
ident Chapin  ; and  thus,  being  dead,  he  yet  liveth  and  speak- 
eth  and  worketh  in  hundreds  of  hearts  and  lives  up  and  down 
through  the  earth  to-day. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

J.  D.  DAVIS. 

Kyoto,  Japan. 


From  Rev.  Arthur  H.  Smith,  of  the  Class  of  1866.* 

When  I was  in  college  I am  sorry  to  say  that  I was  one  of 
those  who  did  not  appreciate  Dr.  Chapin  at  his  true  value. 
But  we  were  then  much  too  near  to  be  able  to  take  in  the  full 
range  of  all  his  wide  and  beneficent  influence,  of  his  clear, 
steady,  never-failing  good  judgment,  his  loyalty  to  the  truth 
as  he  saw  it,  and  his  sympathy  with  every  good  word  and 
work.  He  was  the  central  figure  of  Beloit  College,  a 

* Mr.  Smith’s  letter  was  delayed  in  the  mails,  so  that  it  could  not  be  read  at  the 
meeting. 


15 


pillar  of  the  churches,  and  a tower  of  strength  to  many  causes 
in  the  interest  of  which  he  was  constantly  sent  into  regions 
near  and  far,  on  important,  delicate  and  difficult  errands.  He 
seemed  indispensable  while  he  lived  ; but  his  faithful  work  has 
opened  for  his  successor  wider  avenues. 

When  he  dropped  out  of  the  ranks,  a prince  of  Israel  fell. 
In  the  infinite  Somewhere  beyond,  his  spirit  must  be  glad- 
dened by  the  great  development  in  the  line  of  work  to  which 
he  gave  his  life,  and  the  ultimate  fruits  of  which,  we  may 
believe,  will  go  on  unfolding  forever. 

ARTHUR  H.  SMITH. 

Pang  Chuang,  Shantung,  China. 


From  H.  S.  Osborne,  Esq.,  of  the  Class  of  1862. 

My  heart  is  full  of  love  and  grateful  feelings  as  I think  of 
President  Chapin.  We  students  of  Beloit  College  do  not 
easily  realize  the  large  part  exerted  in  our  college  education 
by  the  unconscious  daily  influence  of  such  a character  and 
life. 

It  has  been  said  (by  President  Cleveland)  to  be  one  of  the 
great  disadvantages  of  a college  education  that  a young  man 
there  is  studying,  during  his  formative  period,  dead  books  in- 
stead of  living  men.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a - pro- 
nounced and  noble  personality  in  the  teacher  not  only  goes 
far  to  do  away  with  the  force  of  whatever  truth  there  is  in  this 
remark,  but  also,  by  the  very  fact  of  remoteness  from  active 
business,  exerts  a far  greater  influence  upon  young  men  than 
would  otherwise  be  possible,  and  is  apt  to  remain  and  grow 
into  their  future  lives  more  than  later  things. 

And  the  personal  character  of  President  Chapin  has  been 
such  an  influence — a very  helpful  influence — with  me,  living 
and,  instead  of  fading,  growing  stronger  with  the  passing 
years.  I wish  I could  be  with  you  to  speak  of  some  of  the 
things  which  come  to  mind, — the  history  class,  the  quiet,  help- 
ful, uplifting  Sunday  afternoon  service  in  the  Chapel,  the 
measured,  yet  brave,  stirring  thoughts  as  he  preached  to  the 
class  just  going  out  into  the  world  from  the  words,  “ Watch 
ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  be  strong.” 
More  than  all,  I value  the  daily  contact  with  a Christian  gen- 


tleman,  the  kindly  dignity  and  purity  and  wisdom,  the  serene 
and  patient  strength  of  character  and  perseverance  in  a noble 
purpose,  which  have  left  their  impress  for  blessing  on  many 
a life. 

The  mind  kindles  with  enthusiasm  over  stories  of  old 
heroes.  Grand  as  they  are,  there  is  a heroism  infinitely 
grander  and  far  more  difficult  to  attain,  of  which  the  story  is 
more  often  written  in  the  annals  of  heaven  than  on  the  pages 
of  men  ; and  as  we  look  back  through  the  lives  of  President 
Chapin  and  his  associates,  and  the  long  college  years  of 
struggle  and  storm  and  discouragement,  and  see  them  stead- 
fastly pursuing  their  way,  splendidly  upholding  the  college 
standards  and  true  to  the  trust  committed  to  them  by  God, 
there  shines  out  that  other  greater  heroism,  the  heroism  of 
Christian  patience. 

God  bless  Beloit  College  and  keep  her  always  true  to  the 
noble  ideals  and  purposes  and  example  of  her  founders,  and 
worthy  of  the  memory  of  her  loved  and  revered  first  President. 

HENRY  S.  OSBORNE. 

Chicago. 


From  N.  G.  Clark,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 

At  the  time  of  Dr.  Chapin’s  resignation  as  a corporate 
member  of  the  American  Board,  there  were  but  two  who  had 
been  longer  connected  with  it.  Elected  in  1851,  his  service 
extended  over  a period  of  thirty-eight  years.  After  the  first 
few  years,  during  which  he  was  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
situation,  hardly  an  annual  meeting  passed  at  which  he  was 
not  called  to  serve  on  one  or  more  important  committees. 
He  was  thus  a prominent  figure  on  these  occasions.  He  was 
known  and  honored  for  his  good  judgment  and  practical  wis- 
dom in  dealing  with  difficult  questions.  It  was  but  natural, 
therefore,  when  in  1883  misunderstandings  of  a grave  charac- 
ter had  arisen  between  the  missionaries  in  the  Turkish  Empire 
and  the  Protestant  Armenian  communities,  that  Dr.  Chapin 
should  be  selected  as  the  head  of  a deputation  to  visit  Con- 
stantinople for  a general  conference  with  missionaries  and 
delegates  from  the  native  churches.  His  fine  presence,  his 
manifest  sympathy  and  interest,  his  patient  attention  to  all 


details,  and  his  calm  judicial  temper  won  for  him  the  respect 
of  all  and  secured  the  happiest  results  in  a harmony  and  good 
feeling  which  continue  to  this  day,  and  have  contributed 
greatly  to  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  missionary  enter- 
prise in  Turkey. 

N.  G.  CLARK. 

Boston. 

From  Rev.  Henry  P.  Higley,  D.D. 

To  the  Alumni  of  Beloit  College , and  all  who  honor  the  memory 
of  President  Chapin: 

It  is  a privilege  to  enter — by  a share  in  this  service — into 
the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  sons  of  Beloit  College  ; that 
privilege  is  increased  by  the  purpose  which  controls  this  year 
your  annual  assembly, — to  render  a tribute  of  love  and  respect 
to  the  memory  of  him  who  among  the  founders  of  Beloit 
College  was  primus  inter  pares. 

Whatever  advantage  other  colleges  may  have,  this  at  least 
is  unique  in  Beloit’s  history,  from  her  founding  to  -this  day 
there  has  been  no  alumnus  of  the  college  that  has  not  known 
President  Chapin. 

I am  not  to  attempt  any  exhaustive  analysis  of  President 
Chapin’s  service  to  college  and  city,  or  of  the  character  which 
was  back  of  the  service  and  made  it  possible.  I only  bring, 
in  a few  words,  my  tribute  of  memory  from  the  twenty-five 
years  of  association  in  the  religious  and  educational  work  of 
this  highly  favored  city.  Ce'rtainly  the  Beloit  of  that  memory 
would  have  been  quite  different — a good  deal  poorer  than  the 
case  now  stands — if  it  did  not  include  President  Chapin.  I 
cannot  think  of  it  now,  its  Sabbath  assemblies,  its  com- 
mencement services,  the  college  campus  or  the  city  streets, 
without  a vivid  sense  of  loss,  now  that  his  presence  no  longer 
presides  over  and  blesses  them. 

A character  less  full  than  his  might  offer  for  that  very 
reason  more  angles  for  notice  and  remark.  His  was  a rare 
combination  of  force  and  caution  ; a radical  on  the  side  of 
conscience,  but  with  balance  and  control  from  judgment,  and 
keeping  the  conservatism  of  charity.  It  was  a great  help  for 
a pastor  in  Beloit  to  have  so  fair  and  clear  a source  whence 
to  draw  counsel. 

Much  as  President  Chapin  cared  for  the  college,  and  bore 


i8 


it  ever  on  his  heart  ; and  wide  as  was  his  interest,  that  went 
out  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  state,  and  nation,  and  all 
the  world  ; the  narrower  view  did  not  hide  nor  the  broader 
view  dissipate  his  vision  of  Beloit  as  the  city  of  his  home. 
Its  business  and  civic  and  social  life  were  all  matters  of  in- 
terest to  him.  He  was  a part  of  its  life  ; and  as  such  he 
valued  its  good  name,  and  its  substantial  worth  in  every  way. 

The  founders  of  Beloit  College  built  into  its  first  life  cer- 
tain elements  of  a finer  and  more  lasting  success  than  the 
enlarged  equipment  and  continually  advancing  science  that 
are  tributary  to  her  later  progress  can  alone  supply.  Happy 
for  her  that  President  Chapin  and  his  co-laborers  honored 
scholarship,  but  recognized  character  as  a higher  end  than 
scholarship,  and  sought  to  make  the  less  subject  to  the 
greater  ! They  held  no  mechanical  theory  of  life  as  exhaust- 
ive of  man  and  his  powers.  They  expected  the  best  only  in 
the  recognition  and  use  of  spiritual  forces,  only  as  lives  were 
opened  to  receive  from  above.  To  seek  character  from  any- 
thing else  as  a substitute  or  equivalent  for  Christly  endow- 
ment and  likeness  is  to  miss  the  highest  lesson  of  the  more 
than  forty  years  of  service  that  President  Chapin  gave  to 
Beloit  College.  May  the  inspiration  from  her  truly  good 
and  great  men  never  fail  Beloit  and  Beloit  College  ! And 
the  memory  of  this  hour  links  everywhere  with  hope.  Did 
I seem  to  call  Beloit  the  poorer  now  this  life  has  ceased  from 
her  presence?  Let  me  hasten  to  change  this  to  a larger  and 
truer  thought.  Such  well  filled  lives  make  it  richer,  not  less 
when  they  are  finished  than  while  they  are  in  progress.  They 
are  abiding  wealth  : such  treasure  has  not  passed,  because  this 
year  we  star  this  honored  name.  In  honoring  the  memory  of 
Aaron  L.  Chapin,  the  alumni  of  Beloit  College,  his  associates 
in  the  Christian  life  of  the  city,  and  in  the  care  for  this  insti- 
tution, join  in  the  renewed  testimony — Beloit's  richest  endow- 
ments have  been  those  of  Christian  Manhood.  And  for  him  we 
have  neither  regret  nor  fear  to-day. 

“ And  doubtless  unto  thee  is  given 
A life  that  bears  immortal  fruit, 

In  such  great  offices  as  suit 

The  full-grown  energies  of  heaven. ” 

HENRY  P.  HIGLEY. 


Redlands,  California. 


19 

From  Rev.  George  Bushnell,  D.D. 

To  the  President  and  Alumni  of  Beloit  College  : 

Dear  Brethren  : — I am  glad  to  know  that  you  are  to 
hold,  in  connection  with  your  approaching  commencement, 
a memorial  service  in  honor  of  ex-President  Chapin,  and 
quite  willingly,  in  compliance  with  your  request,  I offer  a 
few  words  of  testimony  from  my  point  of  view  as  pastor  and 
associate  in  Ghurch  work. 

Men  of  strong  character  are,  I believe,  generally  single- 
minded  men.  Their  characters  are  shaped  and  their  course 
determined  by  some  one  central  and  all-controlling  principle. 
It  is  this  fact  which  renders  all  questions  which  relate  to  them 
easy  of  interpretation.  If  I mistake  not,  this  is  delightfully 
so  in  the  case  of  him  whom  we  now  propose  to  honor.  He 
had  a stock  of  good  and  great  qualities,  by  any  one  of  which 
he  might  be  said  to  be  distinguished.  Thus,  I believe  he  is 
credited,  by  those  who  are  in  position  to  know,  with  unusual 
administrative  ability.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  a model  of  that 
manly  eloquence,  the  chief  element  of  which  is  the  power 
of  clear  and  impressive  statement.  In  the  conference  meet- 
ing or  deliberative  assembly  he  was  remarkable  for  the  ease 
and  acceptableness  with  which  he  formulated  the  business  of 
the  meeting,  whatever  it  was.  In  the  social  gathering  or 
home  prayer-meeting  he  entered  with  great  zest  into  the  exer- 
cises, and  spoke  and  sang  with  an  inspired  and  inspiring 
ardor.  Yet  no  one  of  these  things,  nor  all  of  them  taken 
together,  is  sufficient  to  give  a true  idea  of  the  man  as  he 
was.  There  was  hidden  in  his  soul  some  greater  and  more 
central  power,  of  which  these  things  were  but  the  emana- 
tions, and  it  is  this  grandly  inspiring  and  controlling  quality 
which  we  need  to  see  if  we  know  and  honor  the  man  as  he 
deserves.  We  may  not  agree  exactly  in  naming  this  central 
and  formative  quality ; but  I venture  to  call  it  faith,  a deeply 
religious,  a peculiarly  firm  and  victorious  faith.  It  was  this, 
I imagine,  more  than  all  things  beside,  that  made  him  so 
good  a business  man.  A sound  judgment,  a firm  purpose, 
promptitude  in  action, — where  were  these  qualities  so  likely 
to  be  engendered  and  become  habitual  as  in  those  keen  and 
stern  conflicts  by  which  the  truth  and  the  right  were  dis- 


20 


cerned  and  adhered  to  in  the  face  of  all  the  enemies  of  the 
soul  and  of  God?  What  better  or  other  equipment  for  the 
pulpit  can  you  suggest,  than  such  convictions,  wrought  out 
by  conflict,  and,  when  proved,  living  in  the  soul?  Who  would 
be  so  ready  in  hours  of  perplexity  and  responsibility,  to 
formulate  correct  decisions  as  this  man,  whose  eye  was  so 
single  and  so  thoroughly  practiced?  And  why  should  not 
this  exact  and,  at  times,  apparently  cold  man  break  out  in 
ardent  petitions  and  rapturous  songs,  as  his  loyal  soul  yearned 
for  the  coming  of  that  kingdom  to  which  he  was  supremely 
devoted,  and  among  its  friends  anticipate  its  triumphs? 

In  him  I think  we  see  demonstrated  with  unusual  clear- 
ness and  certainty  the  supreme  value  of  Christian  faith  to 
enlarge  and  ennoble  the  soul,  to  correct  its  eccentricities, 
and  give  force  and  unity  to  its  unfolding  life. 

From  this  source  of  sanity  and  power  it  was  that  our 
friend  was  so  manly  a man,  exempt  to  so  remarkable  an 
extent  from  all  weak  vacillations  and  moodiness  of  temper. 
For  the  same  reason  he  was  a ready  man.  To  my  eye  he 
never  wore  the  aspect  of  a man  slowly  spelling  out  or  anx- 
iously readjusting  his  course,  but  that  of  a man  moving  right 
on  to  his  duty  in  obedience  to  relations  which  God  had 
planned  for  him  and  which,  once  for  all,  he  had  loyally  and 
thankfully  assumed.  And  so  it  was  that  he  was  ever  found 
in  his  place  and  ready  for  his  post,  in  the  work  of  the  church, 
the  community  and  the  nation,  no  less  than  in  that  of  the 
college.  Was  there  debate  or  hesitation,  his  mind  was 
usually  made  up  and  his  voice  was  heard  leading  the  way, 
with  so  little  of  the  spirit  of  dictation  or  self-will,  and  usually 
so  wisely,  that  he  was  thankfully  followed.  Was  money 
wanted  for  any  good  purpose,  especially  for  meeting  a real 
need  in  the  church  or  to  enlarge  its  charities,  his  hand  was 
the  first  to  open  and  with  a large  generosity.  Finally,  let  me 
tell  in  few  words  what  he  was  to  me.  Most  distinctly  do  I 
remember  what  he  was  to  me  on  my  first  coming  to  Beloit, 
to  consider  and  take  up  my  pastorate  there.  Some  of  you 
will  possibly  recollect  that  it  was  a time  of  deep  depression, 
both  as  respects  the  affairs  of  the  town  and  of  the  church. 
Both  were  taxed  and  overtaxed  to  meet  railroad  obligations, 
and  to  erect  and  furnish  the  buildings  of  the  church.  It  was 


21 


midwinter,  and  the  weather  extremely  cold.  Congregations 
in  the  large  and  unfinished  edifice  were  scanty,  and  abundant 
echoes  seemed  to  mock  rather  than  applaud  all  efforts  to  be 
impressive,  or  even  audible.  And  here  was  the  question  to 
be  faced  at  once,  of  a new  pastorate  to  be  undertaken,  under 
circumstances  which  perhaps  a strong  man,  accustomed  to 
the  buoyancy  and  quick  reaction  of  Western  life,  might  easily 
have  borne  up  against;  but  my  spirit,  I confess,  was  appalled 
and  well  nigh  quenched  by  the  prospect.  I did  not  especially 
hunger  for  sympathy,  I did  not  care  to  have  the  difficulties  of 
the  position  alleviated,  least  of  all  explained  away.  If  I were 
weak  enough  to  lean  on  such  supports  I was  not  to  be  accom- 
modated, especially  by  Dr.  Chapin.  But  I did  find  in  him 
and  his  associates  something  quite  to  the  purpose — a man 
and  men  who  had  neither  time  nor  disposition  to  take  counsel 
of  their  fears,  men  who  only  needed  to  see  their  work  and  to 
know  that  it  was  theirs.  This  one  thing  I saw  in  Dr.  Chapin, 
then  and  ever  afterwards,  and  his  associates  were  scarcely 
behind  him  in  this  respect.  If  any  man  wants  to  see  faith  in 
its  highest  perfection,  I should  commend  for  his  study  and 
imitation  those  whom  God  has  called  to  the  honored  task  of 
founding  and  nursing  into  strength  our  western  colleges. 
Surrounded  by  these  men,  I should  have  been  ashamed  to  be 
frightened  at  anything  or  to  complain.  If  I was  not  at  once 
cheered,  I was  braced,  made  strong,  at  least  in  spots.  Had 
these  men  stooped  to  flattery,  1 should  have  been  frightened  ; 
had  they  indulged  in  over-sweet  sentimentalities,  I should 
have  been  disgusted  ; but  as  they  simply  moved  forward  to 
their  task  quietly  and,  as  I thought,  somewhat  grimly,  I did 
the  same,  till  a better  day  dawned  in  the  church  and  at  last, 
as  I am  glad  to  say,  in  the  college  also. 

While,  therefore,  I sincerely  congratulate  the  alumni  of 
Beloit  upon  the  high  character  and  faithful  services  of  the 
first  President,  I would  have  them  see  in  him  something 
more  than  a great  and  wise  administrator  of  their  trust — even 
a man  called  of  God  and  shaped  to  their  ends  long  before- 
hand, and  divinely  upheld  and  inspired  for  his  many-sided 
task.  It  was  as  such  that  I came  to  know  him  at  first, 
and  afterwards  to  trust  him  as  a most  valued  friend  and 
helper.  At  times  I used  to  pity  him  and  his  associates,  who 


22 


had  to  endure  so  much  at  my  hands,  but  I learned  to  love 
them  even  for  this,  with  such  exemplary  patience  and  discre- 
tion did  they  bear  with  me. 

From  his  position  in  the  college  and  in  the  church  I saw 
much  of  Dr.  Chapin,  in  public  and  in  his  family  and  study, 
and  with  ever  increasing  confidence  and  love,  at  least  on  my 
part.  I count  it  among  the  best  of  Heaven’s  gifts  that  I was 
permitted  to  know  him  so  well.  That  chapter  of  history 
which  closed  with  his  life  on  earth  is  to  me  most  precious 
and  comforting.  If  there  was  little  in  it  that  the  world  calls 
great,  there  was  in  it  an  illustration  not  to  be  questioned,  of 
the  dignity  and  beauty  of  Christian  fellowship.  Shall  we  not 
all  accept  his  true  and  noble  life  as  a sure  prophecy  and 
pledge  of  a yet  fuller  and  diviner  life  hereafter  ? 

Yours  fraternally, 

GEORGE  BUSHNELL. 


New  Haven,  Connecticut. 


Paper  by  Horace  White,  Esq.,  of  the  Class  of  1853. 

My  earliest  recollection  of  Dr.  Chapin  is  that  of  visiting 
his  home,  on  some  errand,  very  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Beloit, 
and  seeing  on  his  book-shelves  a set  of  the  British  poets. 
There  was  no  similar  collection  in  the  town  at  that  time.  I 
was  then  fifteen  years  of  age.  1 approached  the  books,  read 
the  titles  on  the  backs,  and  timidly  asked  him  if  I might  look 
at  them.  He  replied  that  I might  not  only  look  at  them,  but 
I might  come  and  read  them  at  my  own  pleasure,  or  take  them 
home  with  me  and  read  them  there.  I greedily  availed  my- 
self of  this  offer,  and  I think  that  I read  every  volume  in  the 
collection  through,  and  some  of  them  more  than  once.  The 
acquaintance  thus  begun  was  more  than  the  ordinary  acquaint- 
ance between  student  and  college  president.  It  was  a deep- 
seated,  continuing  and  growing  friendship,  which  terminated 
only  with  his  death.  It  was  my  pleasure  and  privilege  to  meet 
him  frequently  after  I left  college,  and  after  I left  Beloit  as  a 
place  of  residence  in  1853.  During  the  succeeding  years  of 
his  presidency  there  were  very  few  in  which  I did  not  meet 
him  at  least  once.  I never  came  to  Beloit  without  visiting 
him  if  he  were  at  home,  and  he  often  visited  me  in  Chicago 
and  New  York.  Once  it  was  our  good  fortune  to  meet  in 
London. 

In  this  way  I came  to  know  our  honored  President  full 
well.  Others  can  tell  more  of  his  labors  in  building  up  the 
college.  None  outside  of  his  own  immediate  family  can  have 
a higher  appreciation  of  his  character  and  his  intellectual  en- 
dowments. To  me  he  was  always  the  noblest  type  of  the 
Christian  gentleman,  and  I am  sure  there  can  be  no  higher  or 
nobler  type.  But  he  was  more  than  this.  He  was  an  affec- 
tionate guide  and  monitor.  The  sweetness  that  is  so  happily 
depicted  on  his  face  in  Professor  Whitney’s  historical  sketch 
of  Beloit  College  was  always  the  portion  of  himself  that  he 
gave  to  me,  both  when  I was  a boy  and  after  I became  a man. 
Even  the  paralysis  that  fell  upon  him  a few  years  before  his 
death  could  not  efface  this  admirable  characteristic.  I met 


24 


him  once  after  this  affliction  came  upon  him,  and  I shall  al- 
ways remember  the  generous  effort  he  made  in  his  feebleness 
to  give  me  the  usual  pleasant  greeting  and  to  take  his  part  in 
our  accustomed  conversation,  to  which  his  wife  lent  her 
needed  assistance.  When  hopeless  disability  befalls  us,  to- 
gether with  the  weight  of  years,  we  must  needs  look  upon 
death  as  a deliverance,  yet  there  never  could  be  a time  when 
the  loss  of  the  companionship  of  such  a man  as  Dr.  Chapin 
could  be  other  than  a sore  deprivation  to  all  who  were  in  near 
relationship  to  him,  nor  can  there  be  a time  when  the  world 
will  not  feel  the  loss  of  such  men. 

Fortunate  is  it  for  us,  and  for  those  who  shall  come  after 
us,  that  the  example  of  such  lives  as  Dr.  Chapin’s  does  not 
perish  with  the  body,  but  remains  to  guide  and  inspire  other 
generations.  It  was  Matthew  Arnold,  I believe,  who  said 
that  “ character  is  three-fourths  of  life,”  meaning  that  in  the 
sum  total  of  this  world’s  affairs  character  outweighs,  in 
that  proportion,  all  other  achievements,  gains  and  things 
whatsoever,  and  contributes  more  than  all  else  to  what  we 
call  civilization  and  human  progress.  The  more  this  propo- 
sition is  studied,  the  more  true  will  it  appear,  that  morality 
is  the  only  sure  basis  of  human  institutions.  Dr.  Chapin’s 
life  was  not  only  a perpetual  example  of  that  morality  which 
makes  society  and  government  permanent  and  worth  having, 
but  it  was  devoted  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  it  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  others.  How  successful  he  was  in  this 
life-work,  the  'gratitude  of  all  his  pupils  will  testify,  as  my 
own  does  gladly ; and  when  we  too  are  dead,  the  institution 
over  which  he  presided  in  its  infancy  and  during  the  first 
thirty-six  years  of  its  being  will  remain  as  his  enduring  mon- 
ument. I was  one  of  those  who  saw  the  corner-stone  of  the 
old  Middle  College  laid  on  the  24th  day  of  June,  1847.  I 
was  then  attending  the  seminary  in  the  basement  of  the  old 
stone  church,  under  the  admirable  superintendence  of  Sereno 
T.  Merrill.  My  father,  Dr.  Horace  White,  had  charge  of  the 
building  of  that  church,  and  my  step-father,  Deacon  Samuel 
Hinman,  had  charge  of  the  building  of  Middle  College. 
Both  are  of  blessed  memory  in  the  annals  of  Beloit.  So  it 
has  come  about  that  I can  better  appreciate  the  growth  of 
the  College,  and  Dr.  Chapin’s  agency  therein,  than  those  who 


25 


did  not  see  the  small  beginnings.  It  is  a privilege,  which  I 
would  not  willingly  forego,  to  bear  my  testimony  and  to 
express  my  homage  for  the  grandeur  and  usefulness  of  his 
career. 

It  was  fated  that  Dr.  Chapin’s  time  and  talents  should  be 
largely  absorbed  in  the  task  of  providing  ways  and  means  for 
the  sustenance  and  growth  of  the  College.  It  is  the  condi- 
tion of  existence  of  every  institution  of  learning  that  it  must 
have  new  supplies  of  money,  or  it  will  “get  left.”  (That 
phrase  is  of  Homeric  origin  ; hence,  I need  not  apologize  for 
using  it  here.)  It  was  Dr.  Chapin’s  task  to  see  to  it  that 
Beloit  College  did  not  get  left.  Asking  for  money  is  always 
an  irksome  task,  but  somebody  has  to  do  this  work  for 
every  college ; even  for  the  richest  it  cannot  be  dispensed 
with.  It  is  laborious,  absorbing  and  never  ending.  The  per- 
son upon  whom  such  a task  devolves  will  have  little  time  for 
other  work.  He  ought  not  to  be  expected  to  do  class-work 
also  ; yet  Dr.  Chapin  gave  instruction  continuously  in  the 
class-room,  besides  serving  on  a great  many  educational  and 
religious  boards  which  involved  time,  labor  and  travel  to 
distant  states  and  countries. 

Although  thus  engrossed  by  pressing  occupations,  Dr. 
Chapin  found  time  for  contributions  to  the  science  of  politi- 
cal economy.  Proficiency  in  this  department  of  knowledge 
requires  the  power  of  abstract  reasoning  in  a high  degree, 
and  to  communicate  one’s  thoughts  requires  the  use  of  lan- 
guage not  less  precise  than  that  of  the  mathematics.  We  all 
think  that  we  know  what  wealth  is,  but  if  we  undertake  to 
tell  what  it  is  so  that  the  definition  shall  include  all  things 
that  are  wealth,  and  exclude  all  that  are  not  wealth,  we  shall 
probably  make  several  ineffectual  attempts  before  we  suc- 
ceed, especially  if  we  have  Socrates  in  front  of  us  asking 
questions.  Then  if  we  try  to  define  value,  capital,  credit, 
money,  rent  and  the  rest  of  the  things  with  which  political 
economy  concerns  itself,  we  shall  discover  how  much  need 
there  is  for  precision  of  thought  and  language.  The  defini- 
tion of  political  economy  itself — that  is,  the  marking  of  its 
boundaries  in  the  sphere  of  knowledge,  has  lately  become  a 
matter  of  dispute,  to  the  great  confusion  and  discourage- 
ment of  its  students.  A school  has  arisen  which  insists  upon 


26 


giving  a place  to  religion  and  the  higher  moral  nature  of  man 
in  the  domain  of  economics,  with  which  they  have  no  more 
to  do  than  they  have  to  do  with  mineralogy  or  chemistry. 
Political  economy  has  always  recognized  justice  and  the 
administration  of  law  as  helps  to  the  production  of  wealth. 
It  has  never  arbitrarily  excluded  the  action  of  the  State  as  a 
factor  in  production,  or  distribution,  but  has  always  insisted 
that  the  burden  of  proof  in  each  particular  instance  is  upon 
those  who  advocate  State  intervention.  When  such  interven- 
tion is  proved  to  be  advantageous,  as  in  the  case  of  the  coin- 
ing of  money,  the  carrying  of  letters,  or  the  establishment  of 
public  schools,  political  economy  no  more  disputes  them  than 
it  disputes  the  rule  of  three.  Those  facts  become  part  and  par- 
cel of  its  own  armory.  But  when  anybody  tells  us  that  it  is  a 
part  of  political  economy  to  pay  higher  wages  than  the  mar- 
ket rate,  or  to  “sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor,’* 
or  to  turn  the  left  cheek,  when  the  right  one  has  been  struck,, 
we  reply  that  all  those  things  may  be  a part  of  our  duties, 
and  yet  political  economy  may  refuse  to  consider  them. 
This  is  not  saying  that  political  economy  merely  teaches  how 
to  get  rich.  It  does  not  necessarily  show  you  how  to  make 
money,  any  more  than  astronomy  shows  you  how  to  get  to 
the  moon.  It  does  show  how  wealth  comes  into  the  world, 
how  it  moves  about,  and  how  it  disappears  and  reappears. 

This  is  a digression.  I have  introduced  it  merely  to  say 
that  Dr.  Chapin,  although  a moral  and  a religious  man  in  the 
highest  sense,  rejected  the  conclusions  of  those  who  would, 
make  morality  and  religion  factors  of  the  science  of  political 
economy.  He  could  not  logically  mingle  them  together. 
“Political  economy,”  he  said,  “is  the  science  which  shows 
how  things  intended  to  satisfy  our  wants  are  produced,  and 
how  they  are  consumed  ; how  they  are  distributed  among  a 
people,  and  how  they  are  exchanged  one  for  another  all  over 
the  world.”  This  is  the  first  paragraph  in  his  elementary 
work  entitled  “First  Principles  of  Political  Economy,”  pub- 
lished in  1880.  This  little  work  I consider  almost  perfect,  so 
far  as  it  goes, — perfect  in  the  clearness  of  its  definitions,  and 
in  the  soundness  of  its  deductions. 

When  I was  in  college,  Wayland’s  Political  Economy  was 
our  text  book,  and  Dr.  Chapin  our  instructor.  At  that  time 


27 


the  tariff  was  not  a political  issue.  There  was  no  controversy 
about  protection  and  free  trade.  We  learned  from  our  text- 
book and  our  instructor  that  free  trade  was  the  system  most 
conducive  to  the  national  well-being,  yet  we  learned  it  in  a 
languid  sort  of  way,  very  much  as  we  learned  that  the  divi- 
sion of  labor  was  conducive  to  the  national  well-being. 
Nobody  disputed  either  proposition,  consequently  nobody 
cared  much  about  them.  But  after  scwne  years  protection 
had  a revival  in  the  legislation  of  the  country  and  began  to 
be  talked  about.  It  became  my  duty  as  a journalist  to  know 
the  reasons  for  and  against  it.  As  a Republican  in  politics 
I had  a leaning  toward  protection  ; as  a pupil  of  Dr.  Chapin 
I had  a leaning  toward  free  trade..  I was  not  slow  in  discov- 
ering that  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  men  who  had  any  reputation 
as  writers  and  teachers  of  political  economy  agreed  with  Dr. 
Chapin.  I was  told  by  those  on  the  other  side  that  these 
men  were  doctrinaires,  and  that  while  free  trade  might  be 
true  in  theory  it  was  false  in  practice.  I remember  putting 
that  proposition  to  Dr.  Chapin  once  in  the  class-room,  when 
this  very  subject  was  before  us,  and  I remember  also  his 
answer.  He  replied  by  asking  me  whether  a thing  could  be 
both  true  and  false  at  the  same  time  ? He  said  that  a true 
theory  must  always  agree  with  the  facts.  To  hold  that  a 
thing  might  be  true  in  theory  and  false  in  fact  was  paralyzing 
to  the  human  intellect,  and  if  accepted  by  the  student  would 
block  his  pathway  to  knowledge  completely. 

This  leads  me  to  say  that  I consider  Dr.  Chapin’s  argu- 
ment for  free  trade,  beginning  at  page  195  of  his  “ First 
Principles,”  the  best  and  most  comprehensive  one  that  I 
have  ever  seen.  Upon  this  question  his  convictions  were  so 
strong  that  he  would  make  no  compromise,  although  he  de- 
sired and  expressly  invited  debate  in  the  class-room.  In  his 
tolerance  of  opposing  opinions  he  was  as  democratic  as  he 
was  frank  in  the  expression  of  his  own.  In  his  preface  to  the 
book  from  which  I have  quoted  he  said  : 

“ Generally  the  author’s  aim  has  been  to  give  a clear 
statement  of  principles,  avoiding  the  advocacy  of  one  side  or 
the  other  of  disputed  questions.  In  the  last  chapter,  how- 
ever, positive  opinions  are  expressed  on  the  issue  between 
protection  and  free  trade,  partly  as  an  example  of  the  appli- 


28 


cation  of  principles  to  pending  questions,  and  partly  to  indi- 
cate the  present  strong  drift  of  both  philosophical  and 
practical  economists  on  that  question.  If  it  shall  serve  to 
elicit  opposite  views  for  full  discussion  in  the  class-room,  the 
author’s  aim  will  be  best  accomplished ; for  it  is  his  earnest 
hope  that  this  introduction  of  this  important  branch  of  science 
to  the  study  of  our  schools  may  tend  to  a more  intelligent 
apprehension  of  economic  laws  on  the  part  of  our  people 
generally.” 

Although  holding  these  very  decided  opinions,  he  remained, 
I believe,  a member  of  the  Republican  party  down  to  a late 
period,  perhaps  to  the  end  of  his  life.  Of  this  I am  not  en- 
tirely sure,  but  I recall  one  conversation  with  him  in  recent 
years  in  which  he  said  that  although  he  was  in  accord  with 
the  Democratic  party  on  the  tariff  question,  he  disagreed  with 
it  on  so  many  other  questions,  and  so  strongly,  that  he  was 
not  prepared  to  turn  the  government  over  to  it.  Others  can 
speak  more  precisely  than  myself  on  this  point,  which  is  per- 
haps not  very  important  after  all.  What  we  know  is  that, 
in  the  expression  of  his  political  opinions,  as  of  .his  economic 
opinions,  he  was  absolutely  fearless.  Whatsoever  word  he 
said,  and  whatsoever  vote  he  gave,  was  the  outgrowth  and 
manifestation  of  the  truth  as  it  has  come_  to  maturity  in  a 
noble  mind. 

Dr.  Chapin  prepared  for  college  use  a revision  of  Way- 
land’s  Political  Economy,  but  as  I have  never  compared  it 
with  the  original,  I am  not  able  to  speak  of  its  merits. 

I deeply  regret  that  I am  not  able  to  be  personally  present 
at  this  memorial  service.  An  engagement  made  several 
months  ago,  having  relation  to  the  World’s  Fair,  which  hap- 
pens to  fall  on  the  same  day  and  hour,  prevents  me  from 
being  with  you  this  evening.  I am  thankful  to  the  friends 
who  have  allowed  me  to  pay  my  tribute  in  this  manner  to  the 
memory  of  my  instructor  and  benefactor. 

HORACE  WHITE. 

New  York. 


29 


BY  PROFESSOR  T.  L.  WRIGHT. 


OUR  FIRST  PRESIDENT. 


To  the  Alumni  of  Beloit  College , June  20,  1893. 

O blessed,  holy-hearted  boys  ! 

Who  was  that  different,  elder  one 
That  shared  and  amplified  our  fun, 

Had  secret  joy  in  half  our  joys, 

And  keyed  high  music  of  his  own 
Amid  our  wild,  ecstatic  noise? 

O fellows,  madly  idle-hearted  ! 

Whose  sober  presence  calmed  us  so, 

Till  with  his  broader,  deeper  flow 
Of  spirit  keener  wit  was  started, 

Whose  fine  enthusiasms  glow 
After  the  presence  has  departed? 

O youth,  too  airily  up-reaching 

To  be  all  things  that  could  not  be  ! 

What  strong  ideal  did  we  see, 

Whose  hoary  glory,  with  his  teaching, 

Shall  live  in  a vivacity 
As  helpful  as  his  pulpit  preaching? 

O students  of  the  book  and  bat, 

O double  lives  of  sport  and  toil  ! 

What  voice  could  still  the  storm  turmoil, 
And  thrill  the  drudgeries  we  were  at 

With  waves  that  beat  beneath  the  oil, — 
And  oil  that  kept  the  tempests  flat? 


30 


O campus-men  of  year  on  year, 

O nudest  braves  that  heaped  the  mound, 

O storied  founders,  legend-crowned, 

0 past  and  future  lads,  draw  near, 

And  ask  of  this  enchanter’s  ground 
What  Aaron’s  rod  has  budded  here. 

We  saw  his  homely  carriage  roll 
Along  our  Via  Sacra’s  dust ; 

It  was  his  triumph-car  we  trust  ; 

But  common  school-boy  eyes  were  dull 
To  know  him  then  as  now  we  must, 

And  cheer  the  quiet  conqueror’s  soul. 

Cheer  loudly  for  our  quiet  Man, 

First  President  of  a holy  place  ; 

For  you  have  known  upon  his  face 
The  sternness  of  our  Puritan 

Grow  warm  with  Washingtonian  grace 
That  made  him  our  American  ! 

Man  is  not  here  as  everywhere; 

Beloit  tells  Beloit,  Hail  ! 

Beloit  is  no  Western  Yale  ; 

She  is  herself,  and  she  shall  dare 
Exalt  her  type  that  shall  avail 
To  shine  and  shine  and  never  glare. 

Here  was  Wisconsin’s  Man,  forsooth  ! 

The  calmness  of  New  England  breeds 
Went  venturing  where  the  West-star  leads, 
Timely  as  comes  the  sun — or  Truth, — 

And  saying  in  his  simple  creeds  : — 

1 do  believe  in  God — and  Youth. 


3i 


of  ©Ijcmtberltn. 

The  full  merit  of  a statue  whose  excellence  lies  in  the 
symmetry  of  its  proportions,  the  grace  of  its  attitude,  and 
the  fitting  relationship  of  its  parts,  can  only  be  appreciated 
when  studied  from  all  points  of  view.  Many  a statue  im- 
presses us  powerfully  at  first  glance  and  from  a selected 
standpoint,  which,  if  studied  longer,  and  viewed  from  other 
sides,  discloses  imperfections  and  disproportions  and  falls  in 
our  esteem  from  the  first  impression  of  greatness  to  one  of 
merely  unbalanced  intensity.  So  too  the  deeper  merit  of  a 
work  whose  excellence  is  inwrought  and  pervasive,  rather 
than  external  and  obtrusive,  can  only  be  realized  when  it  is 
viewed  again  and  again,  and  when  time  is  given  that  the 
impressions  it  makes  may  grow  into  maturity  and  take  on 
their  full  significance.  Not  only  this,  but  he  who  views  it 
must  himself  grow  by  the  experiences  of  life  until  his  ex- 
panded nature  shall  comprehend  and  appreciate  in  some 
adequate  degree  that  which  is  expressed  in  the  work  before 
him.  So  it  is  in  the  study  of  human  character.  So  it  is,  I 
think,  in  a peculiar  sense  in  the  study  of  the  character  we 
delight  to  commemorate  to-night.  No  single  point  of  con- 
tact with  Dr.  Chapin  sufficed  to  give  an  adequate  perception 
of  the  breadth  and  depth  and  symmetry  of  his  personality. 
It  was  only  by  contact  with  him  in  many  relations,  extended 
through  a long  period  of  years,  that  there  could  come  a just 
estimate  of  his  deeper  and  truer  nature.  Far  more  than 
with  most  men,  the  character  of  Dr.  Chapin  lingers  with  one 
and  returns  again  and  again  for  a fresh  and  ever  larger  inter- 
pretation. And  so,  his  personality  has  grown  in  apprecia- 
tion as  the  years  go  by,  in  a way  and  to  a degree  that  is  true 
of  very  few  characters  which  I have  known.  It  was  my 
good  fortune  to  come  into  contact  with  Dr.  Chapin  in  an 
unusual  variety  of  relations,  stretching  over  a period  of 
thirty  years.  In  view  of  the  contributions  of  others,  I know 
you  will  pardon  me  if  I speak  from  a personal  point  of  view 
and  with  a brevity  not  at  all  commensurate  with  the  subjects 


3 2 


I knew  him  as  a college  boy  knows  a college  president,  or 
thinks  he  knows  him  ; a relationship  from  which  spring  esti- 
mates of  character  ofttimes  very  erroneous.  I knew  him  as 
a pupil  knows  a teacher  ; a relationship  out  of  which  better, 
but  still  incomplete,  views  are  wont  to  spring.  I knew  him 
as  a graduate,  while  struggling  for  my  start  in  the  world  ; a 
relationship  that  revealed  a personal  interest  and  helpfulness 
on  his  part  which  disclosed  an  element  of  his  character  I had 
not  before  recognized.  I knew  him  as  a member  of  his  fac- 
ulty ; a relationship  which  brought  the  closest  contact  with 
the  inner  characteristics  of  his  real  personality.  I knew  him 
as  a member  of  the  community,  seeking  to  reform  its  evils, 
but  curbing  his  earnest  desires  by  a recognition  of  metes  and 
bounds  and  by  a judgment  based  on  possibilities  and  actual- 
ities rather  than  idealities  ; judgment,  the  wisdom  of  which 
the  enthusiasm  of  youth  and  of  moral  earnestness  failed  then 
to  realize,  but  which  time  and  experience  have  amply  justi- 
fied. I knew  him  as  a citizen,  endeavoring  to  promote  legis- 
lation in  behalf  of  the  higher  and  better  interests  of  our 
commonwealth. 

As  students  in  college,  while  we  could  not  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed by  the  dignity  of  his  character,  by  the  grace  of  his 
bearing,  by  the  equanimity  of  his  temperament,  by  the  refine- 
ment of  his  every  characteristic,  we  failed  to  recognize  the 
real  depth  of  soul  and  of  feeling,  of  kindly  interest  and  of 
sympathy  which  lay  concealed  beneath  his  polished  and  con- 
trolled manner.  His  reserved  and  controlled  bearing  we 
failed  to  correctly  interpret.  It  came  in  part,  I judge,  from 
the  ideals  of  a generation  from  whose  courtly  ways  we  have 
departed,  in  part  from  the  self-constraint  which  grave  official 
responsibility  naturally,  if  not  necessarily,  engenders,  but 
chiefly,  I think,  from  a natural  diffidence  and  sensitiveness  of 
nature  which,  however  admirably  controlled  by  cultivation, 
yet  permeated  all  his  actions  and  gave  them  an  expression  of 
reserve,  the  nature  of  which  was  not  correctly  interpreted  by 
us  because  of  the  very  perfection  of  its  control  and  conceal- 
ment. In  later  and  more  intimate  relations,  this  expression 
of  seeming  reserve  entirely  ceased  to  be  recognizable,  and 
was  replaced  by  a cordiality  and  freedom  of  approach  and 


33 


intercourse  that  was  at  once  gratifying  and  inspiring.  This 
was  the  real  and  true  expression. 

As  an  instructor,  Dr.  Chapin  dwelt  upon  the  more  gen- 
eral and  basal  factors  of  his  subject,  and  upon  the  interplay 
and  balance  of  influences  that  determined  the  outcome  of  the 
contending  elements  of  human  affairs — the  field  of  his  in- 
struction— rather  than  upon  specific  details.  His  view  was 
comprehensive  rather  than  special.  In  my  judgment  as 
a boy,  this  more  general  view  did  not  fully  compensate  for 
what  seemed  to  be  a lack  of  overflowing  fullness  of  dates 
and  details  in  history  and  striking  externals  and  apothegms 
in  economics.  These  latter  I could  appreciate  ; the  former 
were  more  shadowy  and  intangible.  But,  in  my  present 
judgment,  I have  no  doubt  that  in  directing  attention  con- 
stantly to  the  more  intangible  play  of  the  real  forces  of  his- 
tory and  economics,  there  was  laid  in  us  the  groundwork  for 
a broader  and  better  appreciation  of  the  interaction  and 
balance  of  influences  in  human  movements.  And  this,  we 
must  all  concede,  is  the  great  essential  in  the  study  of  human 
affairs.  How  little  does  the  soil  know  the  character  of  the 
seed  planted  in  it  ! How  little  does  the  boy  know  what  will 
prove  most  vital  in  his  instruction  ! 

After  leaving  college,  there  comes  to  us  a new  revelation 
of  Dr.  Chapin’s  personality.  He  came  to  stand  to  us  in  a 
fuller  sense  as  a true  representative  of  our  Alma  Mater 
through  the  fostering  interest  with  which  he  followed  us  as 
we  went  forth,  and  in  the  helpful  but  very  undemonstrative 
way  in  which  he  aided  us  in  the  struggle  for  a start  in  life. 
His  way  was  a very  quiet,  practical  way,  not  an  effervescent 
expression  of  feeling.  A gushing  greeting  would  have  given 
a moment’s  pleasure  and  satisfied  us,  but  would  have  been 
far  less  real  and  effective  than  the  opportunities  which  he 
placed  unobtrusively  in  our  path,  opportunities  when  these 
were  all  in  all  to  us.  The  kindly  but  discriminative  interest 
with  which  he  followed  our  earlier  efforts,  the  real  apprecia- 
tion with  which  he  noted  our  little  successes,  and  the  kindly 
words  that  he  dropped  here  and  there  that  came  around  to  us 
in  due  time  disguised  in  the  form  of  the  good  opinion  and 
the  ready  aid  of  those  who  had  been  influenced  by  him  in 


34 


our  behalf,  these  were  solid  tokens  of  the  affection  he  bore 
toward  the  sons  of  the  college. 

It  is  not  unnatural  that,  as  a member  of  the  faculty,  there 
should  have  come  a new  and  still  greater  revelation  of  the 
deeper  elements  in  Dr.  Chapin’s  personality.  In  the  close 
contact  of  the  faculty  room,  where  the  realities  of  college 
administration  bring  forth  the  realities  of  character,  where 
the  deeper  questions  of  development  draw  out  the  deeper 
elements  of  the  nature,  where  the  perplexing  issues  of  col- 
lege discipline  reveal  the  moral  fibre,  and  where  the  stress 
and  struggle  for  progress  under  hampering  conditions  draw 
forth  the  full  resources  of  personality,  it  is  not  strange  that 
we  should  come  to  know  our  president  as  we  had  never 
known  him  before.  Neither  dignity  of  bearing,  nor  culture 
of  manner,  nor  trained  control,  nor  personal  grace,  nor  any 
of  the  externalities  of  personality  counted  for  much  in  the 
estimate  there  formed.  It  was  the  deep,  unswerving  earnest- 
ness, the  complete  devotion,  the  equipoise  of  judgment,  the 
equanimity  of  temper,  the  pervading  charity,  the  steadfast- 
ness of  purpose,  and  the  resolute  faith  that  made  up  Dr. 
Chapin’s  personality  as  we  saw  it  behind  the  doors  of  the 
faculty  room  and  in  the  even  closer  confidence  of  the  presi- 
dent’s office. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  know  something  of  the  inner 
views  and  feelings  of  Dr.  Chapin  concerning  those  questions 
that  relate  to  the  moral  advancement  of  society  ; questions 
which,  in  those  times,  stirred  some  to  effervescent  enthu- 
siasm, sometimes  wholesome,  sometimes  wasteful  or  harm- 
ful ; that  stirred  others  to  action,  sometimes  wise  and  helpful, 
sometimes  foolish  and  harmful,  and  that  impelled  others  to 
hostility  or  indifference.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  he  was  pos- 
sessed by  a profound  interest  in  that  which  made  for  the 
elevation  of  the  race  ; but  there  was  no  abandonment  of  that 
good  judgment  of  relations,  that  insight  into  the  dependence 
of  results  upon  ways  and  means,  which  led  so  many  enthu- 
siasts into  impracticable  efforts  and  which  wasted  so  much 
of  the  energies  of  moral  enthusiasm  which,  more  rightly 
directed,  would  have  accomplished  more  substantial  results. 
His  view  was  considerate  of  all  the  factors  that  entered  into 
these  intricate,  complex  problems.  It  was  at  once  judicial 


35 


and  judicious,  conservative  and  progressive.  Were  there 
more  such  men  there  would  be  greater  progress. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  know  something  of  the  personal 
influence  of  Dr.  Chapin  upon  those  who  made  our  laws  and 
upon  the  higher  officials  that  carried  them  into  execution, 
and  I feel  warranted  in  saying  that  we  owe  to  his  influence 
much  of  the  progress  made  by  our  State  in  legislation  respect- 
ing our  charities  and  our  educational  interests.  It  is  a great 
error  to  suppose  that  men  of  his  pure  and  lofty  character  do 
not  profoundly  influence  our  legislators  when  they  approach 
them  as  he  did  in  a courteous  and  manly  presentation  of  the 
higher  interests  of  our  commonwealth,  and  when  they  lay 
before  them,  as  he  did,  the  higher  considerations  that  should 
control  their  actions,  absolutely  free  from  any  taint  of  illegit- 
imate argument  or  of  specious  persuasiveness,  and  without 
any  suggestion  that  they  would  be  actuated  by  other  than 
the  highest  motives.  If  the  good  influences  of  such  men, 
brought  to  bear  with  simple  directness  and  courteous  consid- 
erateness, were  more  generally  marshalled  at  our  capitols, 
the  higher  interests  of  our  States  and  the  good  character  of 
our  legislatures  would  be  greatly  conserved  and  promoted. 
Through  his  influence  on  public  men,  Dr.  Chapin  was  a pub- 
lic benefactor. 

It  has  happened  to  us  all  to  change  our  early  estimates  of 
men  ; to  slide  some  up  the  scale  and  to  slide  others  down  the 
scale  ; to  re-arrange  the  order  of  rank  and  of  esteem.  We 
have  done  this,  partly  because  we  have  come  to  know  more 
of  those  upon  whom  we  place  estimates,  and  partly  because 
of  changes  in  ourselves  by  which  our  criteria  are  modified 
and  our  insight  is  strengthened  and  deepened.  In  the  case 
of  Dr.  Chapin,  although  the  original  estimate  was  high,  in- 
creased knowledge  of  him,  increased  knowledge  of  other  men 
in  like  position  and  circumstances,  and  increased  knowledge 
of  the  issues  of  life  have  forced  me,  and  I think  have  forced 
you  all,  to  push  the  estimate  upward  and  upward  steadily 
from  first  to  last.  1 There  was  no  rocket-like  ascent  born  of 
burning  enthusiasm,  but  a steady,  permanent  rise  into  higher 
and  higher  estimation,  just  as  one  ascends  a great  plateau 
almost  unconscious  of  the  rise,  and  perchance  unconscious  of 
the  real  altitude  which  is  at  length  attained  because  of  the 


very  breadth  and  massiveness  of  the  substructure  on  which 
the  ascent  is  made. 

Dr.  Chapin’s  monument  should  not  be  a granite  shaft, 
for  that  would  not  grow  larger  with  time,  but  rather  crumble 
away.  It  should  rather  be  like  a great  rising  plateau,  quietly, 
slowly,  constantly  lifting  itself  by  its  own  inherent  forces, 
always  greater  than  it  seems,  always  growing  into  ampler  pro- 
portions, always  most  impressive  when  measured  by  what  it 
is  rather  than  by  what  it  seems.  Mountains  are  greater  than 
monuments,  plateaus  are  greater  than  mountains.  The  world 
does  not  always  see  it  so,  but  it  is  so. 


37 


of  tyvz&xbznt  on* 

In  these  closing  moments  I will  add  to  the  wreath  woven 
to-night  for  our  father  and  friend  but  a single  spray  of  loving 
remembrance. 

One  of  our  most  thoughtful  poets  has  said  : 

“Endurance  is  the  crowning  quality, 

And  patience  all  the  passion  of  great  hearts  ; 

These  are  their  stay,  and  when  the  leaden  world 
Sets  its  hard  face  against  their  fateful  thought, 

And  brute  strength,  like  a scornful  conqueror, 

Clangs  his  huge  mace  down  in  the  other  scale, 

The  inspired  soul  but  flings  his  patience  in — 

And  slowly  that  outweighs  the  ponderous  globe, — 

One  faith  against  a whole  earth’s  unbelief ; 

One  soul  against  the  flesh  of  all  mankind.” 

There  are  certain  traits  of  leadership  more  captivating  ; 
as  the  capacity  for  originating  brilliant  projects  in  counsel, 
or  gallant  daring  in  action  ; but  patience  is  more  fundamen- 
tal as  it  is  more  enduring  ; and  it  is  more  indispensable  in  the 
founders  of  a college  in  a new  commonwealth.  “Ye  have 
need  of  patience,”  was  the  apostolic  injunction  to  the  pio- 
neers of  Christianity,  as  the  clasp  and  crown  of  their  virtues, 
to  secure  the  permanence  of  their  achievements  in  the  Gospel. 
To  a marked  degree  this  grace  wTas  conferred  upon  him  of 
whom  we  think  this  evening  with  gratitude  to  God  who  gave 
him  to  us  and  to  the  world. 

The  buggy  in  which,  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  the  young 
pastor  drove  across  prairies  brilliant  with  flowers  from  Mil- 
waukee to  Beloit,  was  a true  caravel.  That  billowy  landscape 
was  an  uncertain  sea  to  many  eyes  that  sought  to  descry  the 
future  of  this  region.  Young  Chapin’s  soul  had  discernment 
enough  and  patience  enough  to  think  not  merely  on  finding  a 
new  world,  but  on  making  a new  world. 

Three  college  presidents  of  the  generation  that  molded 
our  own  stand  out  as  leading  representatives  of  the  New 
England  ideal  in  education — Woolsey,  Hopkins  and  Chapin  ; 
of  the  three,  Dr.  Chapin  was  not  the  least.  In  the  great 


quality  which  the  poet  extols  was  he  not  the  first  ? Woolsey 
was  called  to  be  president  of  one  of  the  leading  institutions 
of  the  land,  a position  for  which  he  had  baen  prepared  by 
years  of  congenial  labor  in  one  of  its  departments  of  instruc- 
tion. To  Hopkins  was  committed  a trust  involving  greater 
faith  and  self-sacrifice;  but  it  was  in  behalf  of  his  own  Alma 
Mater , already  older  than  Beloit  was  when  Dr.  Chapin  laid 
down  its  presidency.  The  younger  of  the  three  was  led  a 
thousand  miles  from  his  own  Yale,  into  a region  destitute  of 
resources  or  educational  traditions,  and  bidden  to  take  charge 
of  a college  without  a single  graduate,  rich  only  in  its  neces- 
sities, and  its  faith  in  God  and  in  the  higher  educational 
ideals.  That  he  had  the  heart  to  respond  to  this  rather  than 
to  other  calls  which  sought  to  draw  him  back  to  responsible 
leadership  in  the  East ; that  for  more  than  a generation  he 
could  front  the  perplexities,  disappointments,  dishearten- 
ments  of  the  college  enterprise  with  such  dignity,  composure 
and  grace  ; does  not  this  write  his  name  high  among  those 
who  through  faith  and  patience  inherit  the  promises  ? 

Keen  as  has  .been  our  sorrow  that  for  these  last  years  our 
leader  has  been  withdrawn  from  participation  in  the  affairs 
he  had  guided  so  long,  and  even  from  the  social  converse  he 
had  so  adorned,  do  we  not  in  hours  like  the  present,  in  which 
we  view  the  work  of  God  in  its  longer  reaches,  rise  into  a 
truer  apprehension  of  the  divine  method  and  purpose  ? What 
supreme  test  God  has  throughout  these  years  been  applying 
to  the  faith  of  his  servant,  even  as  He  tested  Abraham  upon 
Moriah  ; and  what  a consummation  of  his  patience  we  have 
seen!  Unable  longer  to  counsel  us,  he  has  become  himself  a 
revelation  to  us.  Secluded  from  the  customary  intercourse 
of  life,  we  have  beheld  him  walking  with  God.  Often,  as  I 
have  sat  beside  him,  have  I perceived  the  thrill  of  his  spirit 
vibrating  along  the  chords  of  his  physical  being.  It  has 
always  been  when  some  special  Christian  experience  or  some 
cheering  progress  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  was  spoken  of,  or 
else  something  concerning  the  honor  and  advancement  of  the 
college.  I learned  to  expect  that  either  of  these  would  move 
him,  as  a breath  from  the  high  hills  ruffles  for  a moment  the 
surface  of  a calm  mountain  lake.  The  kingdom  of  God,  and 
the  college  as  a vital  member  of  it ; these  were  the  objects  of 


39 

his  strong  and  self-forgetting  love  ; for  these  he  wrought,  for 
these  he  endured  to  the  end.  We  rejoice  to  believe  that  the 
memory  and  the  influence  of  his  faith  and  patience  will  abide 
with  the  college,  a priceless  inheritance,  forever. 


40 


from  tlje  ^btureea  of  Urofeeexnr  (!Emev®mt.* 

I would  not  dare  to  comply  with  the  kind  request  of 
friends,  nor  even  with  the  commands  of  my  own  heart,  if  it 
were  required  to  meet  the  public  importance  of  the  occasion. 
For  we  are  bearing  to  his  rest  a man  of  national  and  of  inter- 
national eminence.  His  peculiar  qualities  were  such  as  shone 
as  sunlight  shines,  and  wherever  there  was  a call  for  calm, 
clear  light,  men  turned,  as  by  instinct,  to  where  they  saw  and 
felt  its  searching  but  genial  shining.  When  there  were  quiv- 
ering issues  in  great  churches  or  centres  of  influence,  or  in 
great  ecclesiastical  or  benevolent  organizations,  or  in  far-off 
missions,  they  called  for  him  as  for  one  who  “ walked  in  the 
light,”  and  so  they  had  “fellowship  one  with  another.” 
Whensoever  there  was  need  of  a wise  guiding  hand  to  order 
and  conduct  business,  they  called  on  him  whose  “eye  was 
single  and  therefore  his  whole  body  full  of  light.” 

So  even  the  view  of  these  public  relations  brings  us  back 
to  that  simple  home  view  of  the  life  which  has  been  among 
us  as  he  walked  in  his  daily  life  in  that  path  which  was  as  the 
shining  light,  shining  more  and  more  to  perfect  day.  What 
others  have  seen  from  afar  has  been  ours  at  home.  We  have 
felt  the  throbbing  of  that  heart  kept  with  all  diligence,  out  of 
which  were  all  the  issues  of  the  life  ; not  the  diligence  of  a 
painful  servitude  but  “the  power  of  an  endless  life,”  like  the 
glad  diligence  of  a lily  perfecting  its  bloom.  Such  is  the  life 
of  the  soul  which  has  received  the  spirit,  not  of  bondage  and 
fear,  but  that  spirit  of  adoption  whereby  we  cry  “Abba, 
Father.”  As  we  have  seen  that  characteristic  smile,  which 
blossomed  so  involuntarily  from  that  heart  so  full  of  grace 
and  truth,  have  we  not  had  some  hint  of  how  those  first  dis- 
ciples discovered  the  glory  as  of  an  only  begotten  of  a Father 
in  that  Word  made  flesh  which  dwelt  among  them  ? So  even 
our  most  quiet  life  may  reflect  the  vision  of  that  manifested 
“Word  of  life.”  And  to  our  friend  was  given  a work  some- 


*Delivered  at  the  Funeral  Services  in  the  College  Chapel,  July  25,  1892. 


4i 

what  correspondent  to  that  of  Him  who  “came  from  God  as 
a teacher.” 

How  interesting  it  would  be  if  we  could  trace  the  lines  of 
light  which  have  passed  through  centuries  and  continents  to 
the  faces  which  we  have  looked  upon.  In  the  lineage  of  our 
friend  the  British  Puritan  truth  seems  to  have  been  tempered 
by  the  French  Huguenot  grace.  He  was  of  the  seventh 
generation  of  the  Chapins  in  the  Connecticut  valley.  He 
was  born  February  6,  1817,  within  a month  of  the  decease  of 
the  illustrious  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  the  great  reorganizer 
and  re-inspirer  of  that  American  college  system,  which  seems 
to  us  a central  part  of  the  hope  of  the  world’s  salvation. 
Dr.  Dwight  was  born  in  1752,  so  that  the  united  lives  of  those 
educators  cover  140  years, — more  than  half  the  time  in  which 
the  Puritan  educational  system  has  been  forming  and  doing 
its  work  of  salvation.  Aratus  Kent,  the  first  president  of 
the  Trustees  of  Beloit  College,  was,  I think,  one  of  the  last 
pupils  of  Dr.  Dwight,  and  the  last  paragraph  of  his  charge  to 
President  Chapin  illustrates  the  vital  influence  of  that  man. 
He  says  : “You  and  I are  sons  of  Yale,  and  I know  not  how 
better  to  magnetize  you  to  a high  standard  of  excellence  than 
to  point  to  the  portraiture  of  your  old  President  and  mine. 
As  I sat  musing  in  my  study  anticipating  the  exercises  of  this 
day,  my  eyes  met  the  searching  glance  of  the  venerable  ex- 
president Day  and  the  sainted  Dwight.  They  seemed  to  be 
looking  down  from  the  wall  where  they  hung  and  come  to  my 
aid  just  in  time  to  administer  the  oath  of  office.  Methinks  I 
hear  them  say,  ‘Young  man,  yours  is  a high  destiny,  an  en- 
viable station — yours  an  awful  responsibility,  a delightful 
work.  Take  this  charter  and  observe  its  provisions.  Exe- 
cute these  laws  with  the  firmness  of  Caesar,  with  the  meek- 
ness of  a Christian.  Make  the  impress  of  this  seal  the  symbol 
of  literary  excellence  unrivalled  between  the  oceans.’  ” 

Dr.  Dwight  became  President,  of  Yale  in  1795,  nearly  a cen- 
tury ago.  After  his  twenty-two  years  came  the  twenty-nine 
years  in  which  President  Day — a man  so  like  to  President 
Chapin  in  depth  and  breadth,  serenity  and  symmetry — and  his 
colleagues,  pupils  also  of  Dwight, — Silliman  and  Kingsley  and 
their  younger  associates,  such  as  Goodrich  and  Olmstead  and 


42 


Woolsey, — carried  on  his  work  till  1846,  when  Mr.  Chapin 
was  already  a leading  spirit  in  the  plan  of  Beloit  College. 

Brought  up  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  under  such  influ- 
ences as  the  'Stalwart  piety  of  Joel  Hawes  and  the  devout 
philosophy  of  Horace  Bushnell,  he  was  educated  at  Yale 
College  in  the  illustrious  class  of  1837,  under  those  great 
teachers  of  whom  we  have  spoken.  After  a few  years  of  the- 
ological study  and- of  teaching,  which  was  also  a preparation 
for  his  future  usefulness,  he  came  to  young  Wisconsin  in 
May,  1843,  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Milwaukee,  of 
which  he  was  ordained  pastor  January  24,  1844.  But  his 
coming  life  was  gathering  around  him.  His  practical  aptness 
brought  him  to  the  front  in  all  good  things,  and  a good  thing 
which  that  young  New  England  then  thought  upon  was  a 
college.  He  was  one  of  the  little  company  who,  in  June, 
1844,  began  the  movement  out  of  which  Beloit  College  grew. 
His  efficiency  and  practical  wisdom  in  the  development  of 
the  plan  seemed  so  essential  to  its  success,  that  when  in  1849 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  invited  him  to  a sec- 
retaryship, the  College  interposed  its  claim — a claim  which 
prevailed  over  the  desire  of  the  national  Society,  and  over  the 
attachment  of  the  important  church,  and  he  was  elected  pres- 
ident of  the  College  November  20,  1849,  entered  upon  his 
duties  February  1,  1850,  and  was  inaugurated  July  24,  1850. 
The  conclusion  of  his  inaugural  address  gives  the  keynote  of 
his  life  and  work.  It  is  as  follows  : 

“I  have  nothing  here  to  pledge  or  to  promise,  but  the 
devotion  of  an  honest  purpose,  so  long  as  it  shall  please  God 
to  keep  me  here,  to  give  my  undivided  energies  to  the  build- 
ing up  of  this  college,  for  the  service  and  glory  of  him  who 
is  the  Head  of  all,  by  whose  will  I would  be  guided  and 
whose  blessing  I crave.”  Great  and  simple  words,  and  we 
are  all  witnesses  how  greatly  and  simply  they  have  been  made 
good,  through  all  the  more  than  forty  years  during  which  he 
has  been  here.  They  are  words  to  study  and  to  analyze,  like 
the  sunbeams.  There  are  the  devotion,  the  honesty,  the 
purpose,  the  piety,  the  one  endeavor,  the  high  plan,  the 
grand  motive,  the  consecration. 

Out  of  that  heart  we  have  seen  developed,  in  its  measure, 
the  history  of  Beloit  College;  and  how  much  more  of  mani- 


43 


fold  good,  like  the  twelve  manner  of  fruits  growing  beside  the 
river  of  Life.  His  high  purpose  and  his  work  remain  with 
us  for  a thanksgiving,  an  inspiration  and  a call.  It  has  been 
his  to  see  the  good  work  go  on  through  the  morning,  the 
noon  and  the  decline  of  a good  life,  and  as  rest  came  to  him, 
to  see  his  work  still  onward.  In  his  long  summer  twilight  he 
saw  under  the  setting  sun,  the  smile,  so  like  his  own,  of  this 
chapel,  emblem  of  the  answer  to  the  prayers  of  his  life. 

And  now  he  has  seen  and  passed  the  Pearly  Gates,  and 
we  “stand  looking  up  into  heaven.”  It  remains  for  us  to 
return  with  new  joy  to  the  work,  now  more  sacred  than  ever, 
in  which  he  has  led  us,  in  all  lines  of  life,  of  striving  to  bring 
earth  nearer  heaven ; and  now  that  it  seems  so  near,  we  will 
each  pray  for  such  an  abundant  entrance  and  welcome  to  the 
joy  of  the  Lord. 


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